Focus question

[reneethomas]

I feel silly even asking but I am having problems with focus. My focus points seem to jump all over the place. Everything looks in focus when I shoot then when I get home and blow the picture up I find out that one or two points locked on in odd places and the focus is not on the eyes.

I have heard people say focus on the eyes then recompose but I don't think it is really that simple. There has to be steps I am missing. Even though I am not a blonde pretend for a moment I am when explaining this to me.

I thank you for your time!
Racquel

[speedster00]

Dont use multiple focus points. Use the center one only, focus on the eyes, recompose.

[doidinho]

You need to consider what your doing when you focus/recompose and determine how accurate your outer points are.

For instance if your shooting a headshot at 130MM from a distance you could totally get a way w/ focusing using the center AF point and then recomposing.

Try doing the focus/recompose shooting full body at 35mm and your going to be way back focused. Way better to use an outer AF point in this situation.

You can use the Pythagorean Theorum to do some sample calcs in order to ge a feel for when focus/recompose will work great and when you should just use your outer AF point. Live view is also great if your camera has that option.

[Mark_Cohran]

Are you letting the camera choose the focus point? If so, stop and take control of your camera. Manually select the focus point that's closest to the eyes for your composition, place it over the eyes, focus and recompose slightly. Many folks use the center point exclusively, but i prefer to to manually select the point as described above because I tend to use larger apertures and shallower depths of field for portraiture. This way I minimize the focus shift caused by recomposition.

[reneethomas]

Are you letting the camera choose the focus point? If so, stop and take control of your camera. Manually select the focus point that's closest to the eyes for your composition, place it over the eyes, focus and recompose slightly. Many folks use the center point exclusively, but i prefer to to manually select the point as described above because I tend to use larger apertures and shallower depths of field for portraiture. This way I minimize the focus shift caused by recomposition.

Yes I am :oops:. I will have to see if I can find a manual online because I moved and still have not found my camera box. When looking at focus points in Zoombrowser I could not figure out why the focus would hit the hand and nothing else. It just seemed to be erratic. Sometimes all focus points would hit and other times just one. Close-ups no problem with focus but full body shots forget it! Thank you once again for your time.

Thanks also to everyone who responded.

[krb]

Yes I am :oops:. I will have to see if I can find a manual online because I moved and still have not found my camera box. When looking at focus points in Zoombrowser I could not figure out why the focus would hit the hand and nothing else. It just seemed to be erratic. Sometimes all focus points would hit and other times just one. Close-ups no problem with focus but full body shots forget it! Thank you once again for your time.

Thanks also to everyone who responded.
According to your gear list you have a 40D.

- Turn on the camera and go to the menu.
- Select the custom functions sub menu, that's the orange button that is second from teh right.
- Select "C.Fn III:Auto focus/Drive"
- Go to item 3, "AF point selection method"
- Press the 'set' button and change this value to "1:Multi-controller direct"
- Press the menu button until you are out of the menu.

With this option selected you choose the active AF point using the little joystick thingy on teh back of the camera. Move it up/down/left/right to select an AF point that is off center or jsut press the joystick down to select the center point. The button on the top right corner of the back of the camera that has a little checkerboard looking icon can be used to go back to having all of the AF points activated when you need that.

[reneethomas]

According to your gear list you have a 40D.

- Turn on the camera and go to the menu.
- Select the custom functions sub menu, that's the orange button that is second from teh right.
- Select "C.Fn III:Auto focus/Drive"
- Go to item 3, "AF point selection method"
- Press the 'set' button and change this value to "1:Multi-controller direct"
- Press the menu button until you are out of the menu.

With this option selected you choose the active AF point using the little joystick thingy on teh back of the camera. Move it up/down/left/right to select an AF point that is off center or jsut press the joystick down to select the center point. The button on the top right corner of the back of the camera that has a little checkerboard looking icon can be used to go back to having all of the AF points activated when you need that.

Oh wow! THANK YOU so much!